The AptarGroup is a global market leader for dosing systems with more than 50 years of experience in a constantly changing world of packaging. The most important corporate objective of the AptarGroup is to provide safe products for the business segments beauty+home and pharma. This objective is reached by using state-of-the-art technology. For the complete development, procurement and production processes the AptarGroup has set highest standards for itself.

In the business unit for fragrances, skin care, and cosmetics Aptar provides innovative, reliable, and flexible solutions. Packaging systems for beauty products must combine perfect function with attractive aesthetics. For demanding customers from the cosmetics industry Aptar is a partner for the providing of ideal beauty product packings. The product portfolio includes pump dispensers, caps and valves for skin care products, as well as spray pumps. Aptar also develops and produces complete packings and customer-specific solutions. At the Neubourg production plant in France AptarBeauty+Home among others is certified acc. to ISO 14001:2004 for the development and production of spray and dosing systems as well as small packings.

At Aptar in Neubourg the components for perfume sprayers are produced with injection-moulding machines. For the observance of quality standards the use of Sesotec metal separators is of decisive importance there. To convince Aptar of the high performance of such machines, the French Soufflet company provided a Protector system for testing for a period of six months. The advantages and improvements that this Protector system provided were quite obvious: A higher output of products of perfect quality, and reduced down-times of injection-moulding machines. The resulting rapid return on investment and the excellent cost/performance ratio in the end were the decisive purchasing arguments for Aptar.

Long before the use of metal separators, magnet grids were inserted in the material feeders of Aptar production lines that predominantly comprise injection-moulding machines. These magnet grids, however, were not efficient enough to remove all metal particles from the hot plastic material. Furthermore, magnets only attract ferrous metals.

For more than five years Aptar therefore has been using Sesotec metal separators of the Protector type for the protection of its processing machines. These metal separators are installed directly above the material inlet of injection-moulding machines. They detect all magnetic and non-magnetic metal contaminants (steel, stainless steel, aluminium…) even if such contaminants are enclosed in the product. Metal particles are removed by means of a "Quick Valve" reject unit. The Protector metal separators are perfectly adapted to Aptar's requirements.

Both Aptar's plant maintenance engineer and production manager consider Sesotec metal separators as an important component in quality assurance: "We are particularly convinced by the detection accuracy of these systems. The daily performance tests demonstrate that the systems operate reliably, that fewer metal particles reach the injection-moulding machines, and that these machines therefore are reliably protected against functional disturbances. To this day we have installed more than 20 Protectors in our production lines."

In its application possibilities the Protector offers highest flexibility. For example the metal separator is ideally suited for application in the packing industry in the production of caps for beverages and other liquids, or in the production of plastic articles for medical technology. Metal separators prevent malfunctions and thus increase the productivity of plastics processing machines.